


Varians Tale

by DreamLoveWrite



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28805772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamLoveWrite/pseuds/DreamLoveWrite
Summary: Based off the scraped spin off Varian and the 7 kingdoms What if Nuru, Yong, and Hugo didn't know what happened in season 1 of Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. After getting trapped in a jail cell Varian has a panic attack. Time they find out our boy Varian has a dark side.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 44





	Varians Tale

It was supposed to be an easy mission. Verian had discovered that the totem they were searching for was sealed in a temple on the far end of this kingdom's prized forest. As soon as he figured out how to open the door he would have finally completed this alchemical trial and been one step closer to rescuing his mother. But of course, that's when things had to go wrong. One second they were standing by a stream collecting water for their trip and the next, Donella stepped into the clearing with a grim and a cloud of smoke knocking the group unconscious.

When they awoke they were in a damp jail cell that smelled like it had once been a stable before it was converted. Two beds hung from the walls and the stone was well worn and cracked. The only sound was a drip drip drip from the corner of the room where water was leaking through the stone wall.

"Hello..."Nuru shouted as she grasped the cell bars and shook as hard as she could "Is anybody there?"

"Don't waste your breath" Hugo said snidely "This is one of the makeshift jails the king of the Iron Kingdom ordered built to house the worst prisoners during the great uprising. Isolation was kind of the point."

"So what? We're just going to die here? We have no food and no drinkable water!" Nuru shrieked.

"Donella wouldn't leave us here to die." he responded "She wants to stall us so she can get the totem not to kill us. There would be nothing to be gained by our deaths and she is nothing but practical. There has to be some way out.

"Sure defend your bestie" Nuru muttered under her breath. Hugo wanted to lash out and remind her no matter what else he had done, he had chosen them in the end. But then stopped.

He had to remind himself it had only been a few weeks since his betrayal had been revealed. He should just be grateful they were still letting him come along on their journey. So instead he took a breath and turned to the youngest member of their party.

"Yong, do you see anything around here that we could use to cause an explosion?"

Yong looked around eagerly but after a few moments frowned at the junk strewn about the dirt ground. " There's nothing useful at all. It's just trash.

"Varian? How about you? Anything alchemical that we can use to get out of here?... Varian"

When the scientist turned around his jaw dropped at the sight of the man curled in on himself in the furthest corner of the room.

"Varian...Varian" he shouted but he might as well have been shouting at the bed for all the response he got.

The alchemist was shaking and sweating profusely. His breathing was labored and he was muttering under his breath. "No No, not again. Please no. "

Everyone started to move towards him but Nuru stepped in between Varin and the group. I need everyone to back up for a few minutes okay. I think I know what this is and being surrounded by people at the moment won't help. Against his better judgment, Hugo listened and put his hand on Yong's shoulder moving them both back as far as the confines of the cell would allow.

"Nuru slowly approached Varian and sat down an arm's length away. " Varian I need you to listen to me. Listen to my voice. Breath. That's good, can you match my breathing? Neru deliberately took slow deep breaths and waited for him to fall into the tempo. After a few minutes, she smiled very good. Now count to five with each breath. Inhale 1,2,3,4,5 Exhale 1,2,3,4,5. Great Job. You're doing amazing. After another few minutes had passed, Varian opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Thank you, How did you know to do that?"

"That's what my lady in waiting would do with me to calm me down when I was a kid. I used to have panic attacks all the time. Kinda comes with the territory when your kingdom is always dealing with death and destruction because of constant meteor showers"

"A panic attack?" Varian asked "Is that what it's called"

"Yeah. Have you had them before?"

"Yes. Not so much now but I used to have them a lot after… I mean. I just didn't know what they were."

Do you want to talk about it? Neru asked.

Not particularly... But I think I need to. Just give me a few minutes to gather my thoughts and figure out how to get out of this awful place first.

It was amazing watching Varian work. Despite just having a panic attack not a few seconds ago he jumped right into action. It only took a few seconds for the young alchemist to smile. "I got it. Yong, can you give me that helmet over there?" Once the young boy complied He used it to capture some water from the leak and crushed a flower that had been growing near the window. He combined them and set it in the sun.

So that's it? Hugo asked.

"Yup, when broken down that flower has highly corrosive properties. As soon as it turns orange that is a sign the liquid has started to break down the metal in the helmet. All we have to do is splash it on the bars before it starts leaking and we're free.

"How long will that take?" Yong asked

"With a fire only a minute but since I'm using the sun to heat it my best guess is 6 hours or so," Varian told him.

"Great 6 hours?" Nuru said sarcastically as she sat down on one of the beds with her head in her hands." You know we haven't even been in here for 30 minutes yet and I'm going stir crazy. How do prisoners keep sane?

"They don't. They just relive their worst moments of their lives and plot revenge on the people they blame for ending up there." He said nonchalantly as he could. When he saw all of the gang's eyes gazing questingly at him he took a deep breath.

"You said you wanted to know what triggered my panic attack?"

"Varian you don't have to tell us. It's clearly hard for you to talk about" Nuru told him.

"Thanks but you guys deserve to know. I understand If you don't want to continue on this quest with me after you know everything."

Hugo surprised everyone by hugging the young man. "Listen you stood up for me and gave me a second chance after I nearly destroyed any opportunity for you to see your mother again. I can't speak for anyone else but nothing you tell me will change how I see you."

Varian looked at Nuru and Yong nodding along and he was overwhelmed with support and love.

"The reason I had a meltdown when I woke up and found myself in a prison cell is because I spent a little over a year in jail when I was a teenager.

The surprise on everyone's face would have been comical had the situation not been so serious.

"Are you kidding me?" Yong asked "We're talking about you here. What could you have possibly done to be thrown in jail? Especially at that age!"

The faith the boy had in him was bittersweet as Varian smiled.

"You would be surprised. Listen I know you guys will have questions but I just ask that you let me finish my story first. It's hard enough saying it once I don't know if I can start again if I'm interrupted."

The group nodded and waited for Varian to continue.

"I guess I should start at the beginning. I grew up in Old Corona. I loved alchemy but as a kid, I wasn't always as cognizant of consequences as I am now. I caused a lot of damage that my dad had to clean up and I constantly felt like a disappointment to him. One day the princess of Corona, Rapunzel approached me for help. She had touched some black rocks that gave her hair mystical abilities. I ran some tests to see what I could find out what happened but we were interrupted by one of my experiments going wrong. You see I wanted to give my village hot running water but I miscalculated and caused several explosions. Thankfully no one was hurt but the results of the tests were destroyed. All we knew was that the princes had some connection to the rocks. I told her we would figure out what was going on and we became friends. Unfortunately, the rocks started to grow like an infestation. It destroyed our town and was displacing people for their homes. I had to help. My dad told me that it was too dangerous and went to the king instead. I thought just for one shining moment that the problem would be solved but then I heard my dad lie to the king and request more land for nonexistent crops. He was running away from the problem and I was angry. I knew I could figure out the secret of the black rocks if only I could run some tests on them. I told Repunzel about what happened and she promised she would help me. Rapunzel always kept her promise so I clung to that like a life raft. When we got back I started experimenting secretly on the rocks. Seeing if there was any way to get rid of them. I had a very promising solution but was interrupted by my dad. He was upset that I went behind his back and we argued. Unknown to me my compound was crystallizing and growing at an exponential rate behind me. My dad saw it and pushed me out of the way but got trapped in my place."

He could see the concern and horror in his friends' eyes but true to their word they let him go on.

"I knew Rapunzel was my only hope to release him because of her connection with the rocks so I traveled for hours through a storm to get to her. Unfortunately, that storm I had traveled through was worse than I realized. It was going to destroy her kingdom. She had to make a choice and she chose to protect her people. I understand the position she was in now but back then all I could see was that she broke her promise to me. I begged and pleaded with her but I was turned away and thrown back out into the storm. By the time I got back, my father was completely encased. I tried multiple times to get help but I guess someone saw me pleading with Rapunzel and spread a rumor I had attacked her. No one would listen. Eventually, the rest of my village left but I couldn't. I needed to save my dad. I drowned in bitterness. I did not want to face the fact that my own experiment had trapped my dad. It hurt too much to take responsibility so I lashed out and blamed everyone else. Rapunzel lied to me, Corona turned its back on me, it was their fault I was in this situation so I started plotting my revenge."

He saw the group exchange a look but ignored it and continued on

"I tricked Rapunzel into getting a flower I thought would help but I realized the power I needed was no longer in the flower it was in Rapunzel. I needed to get her to old Corona so I kidnaped the queen and created an army of automatons to fight the army of Corona. I forced Repunzel to help me by using the same solution that trapped my dad on her mom. I used her hair to try to break through the amber but it didn't work. The queen eventually freed herself to avoid being trapped by the amber and Rapunzel and her family were reunited. I was furious. She got her family while mine was still trapped? No! I have to admit after this point my memory is slightly fuzzy. All I remember is wanting them to feel my pain. I wanted them to suffer. I used an automaton suit to attack them but the princes somehow controlled the rocks and stopped me. I was thrown in jail for treason, assault, attempted regicide, attempted murder of the guards, and malicious destruction of property throughout the kingdom. "

His eyes met his friends and he could read the shock and trepidation in the room but at least he didn't see the disgust he was expecting. That was the best he could hope for at this point. The silence was deafening and Varian almost couldn't take it anymore. Thankfully Yong broke it by saying.

"Don't take this the wrong way man but how in the world were you only in jail for a year? I mean I'm glad your not because then we never would have met you but that is a laundry list of ofencess and treason alone would get you a life sentence"

"Rapunzel's too forgiving for her own good that's why." He said with a fond smile "Remember I told you prisoners have little more to do then reflect. Well, it took me exactly 10 months of stewing and a few visits from the queen to realize what I had done and that there was nothing I could do to fix it. That was my darkest point. I just wanted to die. I couldn't save my dad. I had betrayed my friends. Shortly after my cellmate came up with an interesting proposition. If I helped him take over the kingdom we could make everyone forget,

"What do you mean forget? I know alchemy is amazing but that seems to be a stretch even for you." Hugo told him.

"Your right alchemy itself would never work but with a little magic, I thought I had a shot. Well as you can probably guess it didn't work. All that happened was an explosion. Andrew and his crew were okay turning everything to ash but I wasn't so I chose the right side. I helped Rapunzel stop them and in return, she gave me a full pardon and ended up actually being able to free my dad with a dangerous incantation she had learned during her travels. It was much more than I deserved. And that's it. That's the story of how young Varian very nearly ruined everything in a fit of rage."

"So Is that where it comes from?" Hugo asked

"Where what comes from?" Varian asked him

"Your proclivity for second chances. First me, then your mom" he elaborated.

"Oh, that. I guess so. I never really thought about it. I just know anyone can make a mistake at the moment and should be allowed a chance to fix it if they want to." After a few seconds, he had to ask the question that was burning in his mind "Do you guys hate me now?"

"Of course not," Nuru said as she hugged him tightly. "I'm not saying it wasn't difficult to hear. I never thought that was something you were capable of but I'm glad you told us. Anyone can see how much you regret what you did"

And with that, a huge weight lifted off Varian's shoulders. Sure his friends probably had a million more questions and had to sort through their feelings on the matter but the important thing is that he had not lost them.

"Okay," Yong said "Well that story killed a good 20 minutes. What are we going to do for the next 5 hours and 40 minutes? The group chuckled and started to plan how they would get the totem back and gain access to the library.


End file.
